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IMMIGRANT  RURAL  COMMUNITIES 


}vuxM- 

WCUL 

/3 


BY 

ALEXANDER  E.  CANCE,  Ph.D. 

Department  of  Agricultural  Economics,  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College, 
Amherst,  Massachusetts 


Publication  No.  656 

American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science 
Reprinted  from  The  Annals,  March,  1912 


This  reprint  is  made  from  the  March,  1912,  ANNALS 
containing  the  following  papers : 

PART  I 

THE  RURAL  PROBLEM 

CONDITIONS  AND  NEEDS  OF  COUNTRY  LIFE. 

John  M.  Gillette,  Department  of  Sociology,  University  of  North  Dakota. 

RURAL  SOCIOLOGY  AS  A COLLEGE  DISCIPLINE. 

Kenton  L.  Butterfield,  President,  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  Amherst,  Mass. 
EDUCATION  FOR  AGRICULTURE. 

F.  B.  Mumford,  Dean  and  Director,  College  of  Agriculture,  University  of  Missouri. 
ECONOMIC  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  CHANGES  IN  COUNTRY  POPULATION. 

T.  N.  Carver,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Political  Economy,  Harvard  University. 


PART  II 

RURAL  INDUSTRIAL  PROBLEMS 

FARM  TENANCY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Benjamin  Horace  Hibbard,  United  States  Census  Bureau,  Washington. 
AGRICULTURAL  LABORERS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

John  Lee  Coulter,  Expert  Special  Agent,  Bureau  of  the  Census,  Washington. 
SCIENTIFIC  FARMING. 

Eugene  Davenport,  Ph.D.,  Dean  and  Director,  College  of  Agriculture  and  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station,  University  of  Illinois. 

GOOD  ROADS  MOVEMENT. 

Harold  Parker,  First  Vice-President  Hassan  Paving  Company,  Worcester,  Mass. 
CO-OPERATIVE  MOVEMENTS  AMONG  FARMERS. 

E.  K.  Eyerly,  Associate  Professor  of  Rural  Sociology,  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College, 
Amherst,  Mass. 

IMMIGRANT  RURAL  COMMUNITIES. 

Alexander  E.  Cance,  Ph.D.,  Department  of  Agricultural  Economics,  Massachusetts 
Agricultural  College,  Amherst,  Mass. 

THE  RURAL  NEGRO  COMMUNITY. 

Booker  T.  Washington,  Principal,  Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute,  Tuskegee, 
Alabama. 

SOUTHERN  AGRICULTURE,  PLANTATION  SYSTEM  AND  THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM. 

Lewis  Cecil  Gray,  Ph.D.,  Instructor  in  Political  Economy,  University  of  Wisconsin. 
THE  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

A.  C.  True,  Director,  Office  of  Experiment  Stations,  United  States  Department  of  Agri- 
culture. 

ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  RURAL  CONFERENCES. 

Clarence  Sears  Kates,  Pennsylvania  Rural  Progress  Association. 


PART  III 

RURAL  SOCIAL  PROBLEMS 

SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  THE  COUNTRY 

Warren  H.  Wilson,  Ph.D.,  Superintendent,  Department  of  Church  and  Country  Life, 
Board  of  Home  Missions,  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

THE  RURAL  CHURCH. 

George  Frederick  Wells,  Assistant  to  Executive  Secretary,  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America. 

RURAL  WORK  OF  THE  YOUNG  MEN’S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION. 

Albert  E.  Roberts  and  Henry  Israel,  Secretaries  of  the  International  Committee  of 
Rural  Young  Men’s  Christian  Associations. 

THE  COUNTRY  SCHOOL. 

Harold  W.  Foght,  Professor  of  Rural  School  Education  and  Sociology,  State  Normal  School, 
Kirksville,  Missouri. 

SOCIAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  AGRICULTURAL  PRESS. 

J.  Clyde  Marquis,  Editor  of  “The  Country  Gentleman,’’  Philadelphia. 

RURAL  CONVENIENCES. 

H.  V.  Van  Norman,  Professor  of  Dairy  Husbandry,  Pennsylvania  State  College. 

THE  RURAL  HOME. 

Samuel  G.  Dixon,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  Commissioner,  State  Department  of  Health,  Harris- 
burg, Pa. 

RURAL  RECREATION,  A SOCIALIZING  FACTOR. 

Myron  T.  Scudder,  Professor  of  the  Science  of  Education  in  Rutgers  College. 

CIVIC  ART  AND  COUNTRY  LIFE 

Richard  B.  Watrous,  Secretary  American  Civic  Association,  Washington,  D.  C. 
INFLUENCES  EXERTED  BY  AGRICULTURAL  FAIRS. 

John  Hamilton,  Farmers’  Institute  Specialist,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture, 
Washington. 

THE  CHAUTAUQUA  MOVEMENT. 

Paul  M.  Pearson,  Professor  of  Public  Speaking,  Swarthmore  College. 

THE  TRAMP  PROBLEM 

O.  F.  Lewis,  General  Secretary  Prison  Association  of  New  York. 

RURAL  POLICE. 

Charles  Richmond  Henderson,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Sociology,  University  of  Chicago. 
VILLAGE  PROBLEMS  AND  CHARACTERISTICS. 

Edward  T.  Hartman,  Secretary,  Massachusetts  Civic  League. 


Price  $1.50  bound  in  cloth;  $1.00  bound  in  paper  Postage  free, 


IMMIGRANT  RURAL  COMMUNITIES 


By  Alexander  E.  Cance,  Ph.D., 

Department  of  Agricultural  Economics,  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College. 

The  problem  of  the  immigrant  is  largely  industrial.  Its  es- 
sence lies  in  the  concentration  of  incoming  foreigners  in  urban  and 
industrial  centers,  in  the  competition  for  labor  and  in  the  keeping 
down  of  the  wages  of  living  and  the  standard  of  comfort  of  the 
established  workman.  These  problems  and  a host  of  others,  so- 
cial, political  and  moral,  growing  out  of  their  congestion,  poverty 
and  ignorance  of  things  American,  have,  until  recently,  had  little 
or  no  apparent  significance  in  the  rural  districts  where  foreigners 
have  settled. 

Nevertheless,  the  foreigner  has  played  a very  prominent  part 
in  the  agricultural  development  not^only  of  the  great  West  and 
Southwest,  but  of  New  England.  The  lure  of  free  land,  un- 
broken, rich,  suited  to  pioneers  willing  to  undergo  privations  and 
hardships  for  the  sake  of  landed  property,  attracted  a steady, 
sturdy  influx  from  northern  and  western  Europe,  which  continued 
through  the  seventies  and  eighties  but  slackened  somewhat  by 
1895,  when  the  supply  of  free  land  began  to  be  pretty  well  ex- 
hausted. In  the  upper  Mississippi  Valley  rural  groups  or  settle- 
ments of  foreign-born  are  so /widespread  and  frequent  that  a town- 
ship of  Bohemian,  German  or  Scandinavian  farmers  excites  no 
comment  and  invites  no  comparisons.  They  have  improved  the 
land,  organized  the  agriculture,  shaped  the  social  institutions  and 
influenced  the  political  situation.  Most  of  them  are  very  thoroughly 
Americanized — at  any  rate  they  have  become  thoroughly  imbued 
with  the  American  spirit,  have  lost  most  of  their  distinctive  race 
characteristics  and  are  well  recognized  and  permanently  established 
elements  in  western  rural  life. 

More  recently,  however,  and  perhaps  more  especially  in  the 
East,  South,  Southwest  and  Pacific  coast,  certain  small  compact 
communities  of  foreigners  have  been  settling.  They  belong  to  the 
newer  immigration,  originating  largely  in  southern  and  southeast- 
ern Europe,  and  they  represent  what  may  be  denominated  the 

(69) 


70  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

agriculturally  doubtful  races.  Racially  they  are  Slavs,  Italians, 
Hebrews,  Portuguese,  a few  Greeks,  Belgians  and  some  Orientals. 
It  is  of  certain  characteristics  'of  these  rural  folk  that  this  paper 
will  deal. 

The  Federal  Census  of  1900  reported  about  nine  and  one-half 
million  male  breadwinners  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  in  the 
United  States.  Three-fifths  of  these  were  native  whites,  born  of 
native  parents,  about  one-sixth  were  negroes,  and  the  remainder, 
some  2,100,000,  were  of  foreign  origin,  i.  e.y  born  of  foreign 
parents.  Taking  no  account  of  the  Chinese,  Japanese,  Indians  and 
other  colored  persons,  the  males  of  foreign  lineage  constituted  in 
1900  more  than  one-fourth  (25.4  per  cent)  of  all  white  males  in 
agriculture — certainly  an  element  to  be  reckoned  with.  Viewed 
from  the  standpoint  of  immigration,  something  like  one-fourth  of 
all  male  breadwinners  of  foreign  parentage  in  the  United  States 
were  engaged  in  agriculture  in  1900.  The  occupational  statistics 
of  the  census  of  1910  have  not  yet  been  published,  but  they  will 
certainly  show  an  increasing  number  of  recent  immigrants  entering 
rural  pursuits;  neither  the  absolute  nor  the  relative  numbers  at  the 
present  time  can  be  estimated  with  any  degree  of  accuracy. 

The  United  States  Immigration  Commission  made  a partial 
investigation  of  recent  rural  immigrants  from  southern  Europe, 
and  in  the  course  of  their  study  personally  visited  more  than  150 
immigrant  settlements,  representing  many  different  forms  of  agri- 
culture in  nineteen  states,  chiefly  along  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
coasts,  where  many  incipient  communities  have  recently  taken  root. 
Several  colonies  also,  largely  Polish  or  Italian,  that  have  recently 
established  themselves  in  the  Middle  West,  were  included  in  the 
studies  of  the  commission. 

In  general,  the  groups  are  racially  homogeneous.  Moreover, 
as  races  they  bear  certain  common  characteristics  of  some  economic 
significance.  In  the  first  place,  although  a large  percentage  of  them 
were  born  and  bred  in  rural  districts  abroad,  comparatively  few 
of  them  have  found  their  way  to  the  countryside  in  the  United 
States;  most  of  those  who  chose  agriculture  as  a vocation  became 
farmers  immediately  on  their  arrival  in  the  United  States.  Second, 
as  compared  with  the  races  from  northern  Europe,  these  foreign- 
ers are  recent  arrivals  and  consequently  have  not  generally  been 
able  to  acquire  rich,  virgin  land  free.  Many  have  purchased  older, 


Immigrant  Rural  Communities 


7 1 


more  or  less  improved  areas,  or  the  less  desirable  parcels  rejected 
by  earlier  home-seekers.  Third,  these  races  are  still  on  trial  as 
agriculturists.  They  have  not  yet  fully  proved  their  fitness  for 
American  rural  life.  They  are  doubtful.  Finally,  while  at  present 
the  farmers  among  them  are  relatively  few  in  number,  it  is  likely 
that  our  agricultural  immigrants  of  the  future  will  be  largely  re- 
cruited from  the  ranks  of  these  races. 

Seasonal  Laborers  and  Permanent  Farmers 

The  early  rural  immigrants  who  came  from  northern  Europe 
and  made  a straight  trail  for  the  woodlands  and  prairies  of  the 
great  West  years  ago,  were  almost  invariably  home-seekers.  Most 
of  them  entered  upon  virgin  land  as  soon  as  they  reached  their 
destinations;  others,  after  a very  short  period  as  farm  laborers  and 
lumbermen,  invested  in  wagons  and  teams,  married  and  began  life 
as  land  owners.  From  the  beginning  they  secured  a firm  foothold 
on  the  soil,  to  which  they  clung  tenaciously.  Among  the  more 
recent  agricultural  immigrants  one  may  distinguish  three  economic 
classes,  differentiated  by  their  relationship  to  the  land.  First  are 
the  seasonal  laborers,  those  having  places  of  residence  and,  per- 
haps, a principal  occupation  in  the  city,  who  spend  a few  weeks 
of  each  year  in  the  agricultural  districts  performing  certain  specific  * 
tasks,  such  as  hoeing,  berry-picking,  vegetable  gathering  or  the 
like.  The  second  class  are  the  regular  farm  laborers  as  we  know 
them,  who  usually  become  land  owners.  The  third  are  the  land 
buying,  farm  owning  immigrants,  the  salt  of  our  foreign  farming 
communities. 

With  the  extension  of  market  gardening,  small  fruit  growing, 
cranberry  bogs  on  a large  scale,  vegetable  canneries  and  sugar-beet 
cultivation,  the  demand  for  seasonal  labor  has  greatly  increased. 

The  field  of  employment  is  frequently  near  centers  of  population; 
summer  is  the  season,  congenial  to  those  who  would  live  out-of- 
doors,  especially  favorable  for  the  employment  of  school  children 
and  laborers  out  of  work,  because  shops  have  shut  down  and  schools 
are  closed;  in  general,  the  entire  family  may  find  employment  on 
the  same  farm  or  enterprise  and  greatly  reduce  the  cost  of  living 
by  subsisting  on  vegetables  and  paying  no  rents.  Thousands  of 
Italians,  Greeks,  Poles,  Portuguese  and  others  come  in  contact  with 
the  land  and  with  the  open  country  in  this  way. 


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72 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


The  seasonal  laborer  has  little  opportunity  to  become  an  owner. 
He  is  the  counterpart  of  the  unskilled  temporary  laborer  in  industry, 
the  day  laborer  on  railway  construction  work.  Specialized,  capi- 
talistic, large  scale  agricultural  production  demands  efficient  ma- 
chines and  often  great  gangs  of  comparatively  cheap  laborers.  The 
cranberry  industry,  highly  profitable  when  rightly  managed,  is  abso- 
lutely dependent  on  an  army  of  pickers,  usually  Italians,  Portu- 
guese, Poles  or  Indians,  who  can  be  employed  for  a short  time 
during  the  harvesting  season.  Many  of  these  laborers  are  aliens, 
laborers  of  the  poorest  sort  with  little  ambition  and  few  American 
ideals.  They  are  frequently  birds  of  passage,  caring  naught  for 
agriculture  nor  rural  life  nor  American  citizenship.  They  serve 
only  to  make  agriculture  profitable  to  the  enterpriser.  Between 
them  and  land  proprietorship  there  is  a great  gulf  fixed,  across 
which  very  few  are  able  to  pass.  Careful  inquiry  discloses  that 
very  few  seasonal  farm  laborers  find  encouragement  to  become 
owners  of  farms.  This  class  of  rural  immigrants  is  the  least  satis- 
factory from  any  point  of  view,  economic,  social,  political  or  moral. 

The  immigrant  farm  hand,  the  regular  farm  laborer  employed 
by  the  year  or  the  month,  gets  somewhat  more  closely  in  touch 
with  the  soil  and  with  American  ideals.  Thousands  of  newcomers, 
fresh  from  their  native  shores,  have  engaged  in  and  are  finding 
employment  on  immigrant  and  American  farms,  learning  the  rudi- 
ments of  American  farming,  acquiring  American  methods,  getting 
a grip  on  the  English  language  and  saving  American  dollars  to 
purchase  American  land.  The  farm  laborers  of  New  York  and 
New  England  seem  to  be  chiefly  Poles,  Italians,  Portuguese,  Cana- 
dian French,  and  a few  other  foreign-born.  They  are  seldom 
wholly  satisfactory  farm  laborers,  but  there  is  no  other  really  availa- 
ble source  of  supply.  A surprisingly  large  percentage  of  them  come 
to  love  the  soil  and  in  a few  years  acquire  some  land,  purchased  out 
of  their  earnings.  This  is  markedly  the  case  where  the  farm 
laborers  are  newcomers  of  the  same  race  as  their  employers. 

Permanent  Rural  Groups 

Of  the  somewhat  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  rural  com- 
munities visited  by  agents  of  the  Immigration  Commission,  more 
than  forty  were  Italian  settlements.  The  largest,  oldest  and  most 
important  of  these  in  the  East  are  established  on  the  sandy  pine 


Immigrant  Rural  Communities 


73 


barrens  of  southern  New  Jersey.  Here  perhaps  seven  thousand 
persons  of  foreign  lineage  have  found  permanent  homes.  The  for- 
bidding nature  of  the  infertile  waste  of  sand,  swamp  and  woodland 
which  characterizes  the  New  Jersey  barrens  has  prevented  their 
occupation  and  improvement  by  Americans.  Here  and  there  a few 
poor  native  farmers  have  cleared  small  areas  and  carry  on  an 
inferior  sort  of  agriculture,  eking  out  their  incomes  by  the  sale  of 
wood  or  low-grade  timber.  Three  decades  or  more  ago  it  was  dis- 
covered that  small  fruits  and  berries  could  be  produced  profitably 
on  newly  cleared  virgin  land;  a few  Italians  were  induced  to  settle; 
others  came  to  pick  berries  and,  because  land  was  cheap,  remained 
to  raise  them;  still  others  gathered  about  the  first  nuclei  at  Ham- 
monton  and  Vineland,  purchased  small  farms,  cleared  them  and 
raised  quantities  of  excellent  berries  and  grapes.  Over  a limited 
area  they  have  literally  turned  a desert  into  a garden.  Their  small 
holdings  of  five  to  thirty-five  acres  are  well  cultivated,  planted  to 
peaches,  grapes,  strawberries,  raspberries,  blackberries  and  sweet 
potatoes,  and  present  a lively  illustration  of  small  farming  with  a 
specialized  money  crop  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

About  two  decades  ago  berry-growing  was  very  profitable  in 
southern  New  Jersey,  provided  one  was  able  to  procure  a supply  of 
cheap  labor.  The  Italian  was  able  to  compete  for  berry  land  because 
of  his  large  family,  willing  and  able  to  aid  him  from  clearing  to  har- 
vest, because  of  his  low  standard  of  comfort  and  his  capacity  for 
incessant  manual  toil.  Moreover,  several  shops  and  factories  gave 
opportunity  for  immediate  earnings,  a fact  of  considerable  im- 
portance where  land  is  uncleared  and  not  immediately  productive. 
When  the  land  was  new  and  profits  easy  a good  many  Americans 
raised  berries  in  competition  with  the  Italians.  More  recently, 
however,  successful  berry-growing  has  depended  largely  on  careful 
tillage,  hand  culture  and  fertilization,  and  many  of  the  Americans 
have  sold  out  to  Italians,  alleging  their  inability  to  compete  with 
them  successfully. 

In  these  communities  both  North  Italians  and  Sicilians  are  rep- 
resented, and  both  have  made  efficient  farmers  and  responsible 
citizens.  The  community  is  still  in  the  making.  Here  are  the  recent 
arrivals,  foreign  in  dress,  speech  and  conduct.  They  have  settled 
on  small  parcels  of  land  and  are  deeply  in  debt.  The  men  work 
in  the  brickyards,  the  glass  works  or  as  common  day  laborers,  while 


74 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


wife  and  children  care  for  the  berry  patch.  Living  in  the  better 
houses  on  the  larger  holdings  are  the  older  immigrants ; they  have 
passed  through  the  long  hard  days  of  debt  and  pioneering,  have 
improved  their  holdings  and  purchased  more  land,  have  built  good 
houses  and  are  recognized  as  respected  members  of  the  community, 
perhaps  American  citizens. 

There  is  still  another  class,  the  American-born  Italian.  Raised 
on  American  soil,  familiar  with  berry  farming  from  childhood, 
many  of  them  alert,  active,  intelligent,  progressive,  they  are  the 
choice  fruits  of  American  immigrant  rural  life.  Up  to  the  present 
these  young  men  and  women  manifest  an  inclination  to  remain 
farmers.  They  take  an  active  interest  in  community  life  and  the 
business  of  agriculture.  They  are  fairly  prosperous,  their  educa- 
tional, social  and  economic  standards  are  higher  than  their  parents’, 
they  are  good  citizens  and  trustworthy,  and  many  of  them  are 
proud  of  their  profession. 

The  basis  of  a wholesome,  happy  rural  life  is  economic  pros- 
perity. Where  the  returns  from  agriculture  are  inadequate,  it  is 
fruitless  to  look  for  adequate  social,  recreative  or  educational  in- 
stitutions and  enterprises  except  in  rare  instances.  This  truth  is 
especially  demonstrable  in  Slavic  or  Italian  communities.  That 
the  New  Jersey  groups  have  established  a fairly  satisfactory  sys- 
tem of  public  schools  to  which  they  send  their  children  with  some 
regularity  is  rather  good  evidence  that  they  have  been  prosperous 
and  successful  farmers. 

The  Vineland  “colony,”  with  its  miles  of  country  roads  or 
“streets,”  bearing  Italian  names  and  thickly  lined  with  the  homes 
of  small  farmers,  its  Italian  holidays  and  celebrations,  its  churches 
thronged  with  foreign  worshippers  and  its  schools  filled  exclusively 
with  pupils  of  Italian  origin  is  one  of  the  best  examples  of  a large, 
isolated,  racially  homogeneous  immigrant  rural  group.  The  rural 
isolation  has  tended  to  perpetuate  old  country  traditions,  customs 
and  language;  Americanization  has  proceeded  slowly,  and  there  has 
been  very  little  fusion  or  amalgamation  either  with  natives  or  other 
race  elements.  The  adult  immigrants  learn  English  much  more 
slowly  than  in  cities  or  in  rural  places  where  there  is  less  segrega- 
tion by  race  and  religion.  The  parish  priests  use  Italian  almost 
exclusively;  Italian  is  spoken  in  the  home,  the  fields,  at  the  social 
gatherings  and  to  some  extent  in  the  school  yard.  Considering 


Immigrant  Rural  Communities 


75 

these  facts,  the  progress  made  by  the  North  Italians,  especially,  in 
American  citizenship  and  ideals  is  remarkable. 

While  the  settlement  of  foreigners  in  large,  compact  groups 
has  some  advantages,  chiefly  to  facilitate  the  founding  of  a colony, 
it  is  questionable  whether  the  incorporation  of  these  large,  unas- 
similable  alien  lumps  into  the  rural  body  politic  is  expedient  in  the 
long  run.  It  is  essential  that  the  progressive  inhabitant  come  into 
touch  with  the  currents  of  American  thought,  American  methods 
and  American  life  as  rapidly  as  possible.  In  one  or  two  sections 
where  the  immigrants  have  purchased  homes  in  districts  settled  by 
native  farmers  and  have  found  themselves,  so  to  speak,  sandwiched 
in  between  American  landowners,  progress  in  amalgamation  has 
been  much  more  rapid,  although  the  initial  difficulties  were  greater 
for  the  foreigner. 

The  Italian  rural  settlers  both  in  New  York,  New  England  and 
the  Southern  States  are  very  largely  small  farmers  engaged  in  truck 
growing,  market  gardening,  berry  culture  or  cotton  raising.  In 
general,  they  are  owners  of  small  holdings,  though  the  form  of 
land  tenure  is  really  a matter  of  the  custom  of  the  locality.  For 
example,  immigrant  cotton  growers  are  chiefly  tenants  who  offer 
the  highest  competitive  rents  for  the  land  they  wish.  In  contrast, 
their  Sicilian  blood  relatives  who  moved  from  the  cotton  districts 
to  the  hills  of  Arkansas,  are  all  owners  of  the  land  they  operate. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  Polish  farmers,  who  are  perhaps  among 
the  most  eager  of  the  home  builders.  The  great  majority  own 
their  farms,  but  in  Texas  among  the  cotton  growers,  in  the  old 
settlements  of  Illinois  and  Wisconsin,  where  land  is  high  and  neces- 
sary equipment  expensive,  and  among  the  recent  Slavic  onion  and 
tobacco  growers  of  the  Connecticut  Valley  tenants  are  very  fre- 
quent. Immigrants  of  all  races  are  profoundly  affected  by  their 
environment,  by  the  economic  exigencies  of  the  situation. 

Nor  are  the  Italians  small  farmers  only,  although  all  their  old 
country  knowledge  and  training  inclines  them  to  “petite  culture.” 
One  of  the  most  successful  small  colonies  of  Italians  is  located  in 
western  Wisconsin,  where  dairying,  cattle  raising  and  cereal  crops 
are  the  chief  agricultural  sub-industries.  Large  herds  of  cattle, 
numerous  horses,  modern  horse-power  machinery  they  handle  as 
easily  and  effectively  as  their  neighbors,  immigrants  from  Ger- 
many and  Scandinavia.  In  whatever  line  of  farming  the  Italians, 


y6  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

either  North  or  South,  have  seriously  engaged,  they  have  demon- 
strated their  adaptability  and  efficiency,  frequently  greater  efficiency 
than  their  neighbors  or  predecessors.  Whether  raising  fruit  on  the 
stony  uplands  of  Connecticut  or  the  sandy  wastes  of  New  Jersey, 
growing  cotton  on  the  black  land  of  the  Brazos  Bottoms  or  vegeta- 
bles on  the  black  muck  of  western  New  York,  cultivating  straw- 
berries on  the  Gulf  coastal  plain  or  potatoes  in  the  cut-over  region 
of  northern  Wisconsin,  irrespective  of  climate,  soil,  topography 
or  products  of  agriculture,  the  Italian  immigrant  on  the  land  has 
made  good  as  a producer.  And  where  he  has  been  given  aid  and 
encouragement  he  has  proved  a respectable  citizen. 

Polish  Farmers 

The  Poles  are  a better  known  and  perhaps  a more  important 
element  in  rural  immigration.  The  first  current  of  Polish  immi- 
grants set  in  from  Poland  to  northern  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and 
Iowa  during  the  6o’s  and  yo’s.  The  initial  Polish  immigrants  were 
a superior  sort.  More  or  less  independent  abroad,  they  came  to 
America  to  take  up  the  new,  free  land  and  build  homes  for  them- 
selves. After  1885,  when  numerous  Polish  communities  had  been 
planted  here  and  there  over  the  Lake  States  and  the  western  prai- 
ries, the  character  of  the  immigrants  began  to  change.  A smaller 
percentage  are  peasants  or  independent  proprietors ; more  have 
been  day  laborers  abroad,  and  in  the  United  States  have  been 
employed  in  mines,  quarries,  steel  mills  and  other  industrial  pur- 
suits. They  have  been  attracted  to  the  land  by  advertisements  in 
Polish  newspapers  or  the  solicitation  of  Polish  land  agents.  They 
represent  induced  immigration;  they  settle  in  small  groups;  their 
choice  of  location  is  influenced  or  directed  by  outside  persons. 
Having  more  ready  money  than  their  predecessors  they  have  been 
able  to  purchase  more  of  the  tools  and  equipment  essential  to 
modern  farming.  These  Polish  settlers  have  proved  promising 
pioneers  and  have  developed  a number  of  prosperous  communities 
on  the  cut-over  timber  lands  of  northern  Wisconsin,  the  less  desira- 
ble prairies  of  the  Dakotas  and  the  unproductive  land  of  Illinois 
and  Indiana  chiefly  because  these  lands  could  be  bought  cheaply. 

The  settlement  of  Poles  on  the  so-called  abandoned  farms  of 
the  East  has  not  assumed  significant  proportions,  nor  is  it  at  all 
probable  that  the  more  isolated  hill  towns  of  New  England,  for 


Immigrant  Rural  Communities 


77 


example,  will  be  populated  by  desirable  alien  farmers  for  many 
years  to  come.  Until  some  money  crop  has  been  found,  peculiarly 
adapted  to  the  rough,  stony  soils,  by  means  of  which  the  newcomer 
can  sustain  himself  until  his  depleted  acres  begin  to  produce 
abundantly,  the  ambitious  Slav  is  not  likely  to  take  kindly  to 
colonization  on  exhausted  areas.  The  former  occupants  of  the  old 
eastern  farms  practiced  a form  of  agriculture  that  for  years  proved 
uneconomic  and  eventually  gave  up  the  undertaking.  The  new 
arrival  faces  a worn-out  soil,  an  obsolete  agricultural  system,  the 
necessity  for  the  reorganization  of  crops  and  farm  practice,  with 
no  resources  save  his  characteristic  capacity  for  hard  work,  and 
usually  a large  and  willing  supply  of  labor  in  his  family.  He  needs 
knowledge  and  current  capital  and  a long  period  of  waiting;  mean- 
time he  finds  it  almost  impossible  to  win  a subsistence  and  accumu- 
late any  savings. 

But  on  the  more  fertile  areas,  where  high-priced  land  devoted 
to  a specialized  money  crop,  largely  dependent  on  manual  labor  for 
its  successful  cultivation  is  characteristic,  Polish  immigrants,  and 
Portuguese  and  Hebrews  as  well,  have  found  agriculture  a profita- 
ble occupation.  In  the  Connecticut  Valley,  into  which  they  first 
entered  as  farm  hands  about  1890,  they  are  taking  possession  of 
the  fertile  onion  and  tobacco  lands  with  increasing  rapidity,  both 
as  tenants  and  as  owners.  In  certain  towns  some  of  the  very 
choicest  of  the  old  New  England  farm  homes  have  passed  into  the 
ownership  of  Poles.  Their  large  families  and  their  willingness  to 
work  long  hours  enable  them  to  out  compete  the  American  onion 
and  tobacco  growers.  They  are  able  to  offer  prices  for  land  that 
the  American  owner  cannot  afford  to  refuse.  Their  natural  in- 
crease is  steadily  overwhelming  the  decaying  native  population. 
There  is  scarcely  a shadow  of  doubt  that  the  foreign  influx  will 
take  complete  and  permanent  possession  of  many  rich  rural  towns 
where  agriculture  is  a profitable  undertaking. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  Poles  in  western  Massachusetts 
may  be  said  of  the  foreigners  on  the  muck  lands  in  west  central 
New  York,  of  the  Portuguese  in  the  town  of  Portsmouth,  Rhode 
Island,  of  Hebrews  and  German-Swiss  in  the  valley  of  western 
Connecticut  and  in  certain  localities  in  Maine,  where  Finns  and 
Swedes  have  formed  colonies.  The  tale  is  ever  the  same.  Given 
a product  that  will  return  money  in  exchange  for  manual  labor, 


y8  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

and  cheap  living,  hard  work,  large  families,  long  hours  and  little 
leisure  will  inevitably  win  in  the  competitive  economic  contest. 
Within  a decade  we  may  look  to  see  a much  larger  number  of  immi- 
grant groups  occupying  the  pick  of  the  soils  of  New  York  and 
New  England. 

Co-operative  Adaptability 

Among  the  Italians,  and  to  some  extent  among  the  Poles  and 
Portuguese,  specialization  of  products  by  localities  is  a noteworthy 
economic  feature  of  their  agriculture.  Practically  every  farmer  in 
the  community  is  engaged  in  raising  the  same  principal  product. 
Instead  of  competition  this  results  in  efficient  rivalry,  co-operative 
endeavor  and  highly  specialized  production.  Strawberries,  black- 
berries, sweet  and  Irish  potatoes,  tobacco  and  certain  truck  crops 
and  orchard  fruits  were  found  occupying  the  entire  attention  of 
farmers  in  as  many  different  localities. 

In  co-operative  undertakings  the  foreigners  have  a distinct 
advantage  over  the  native  farmers  because  of  their  racial  homo- 
geneity. If  class  consciousness  has  not  been  adequately  developed, 
there  is  at  any  rate  a race  consciousness  which  forms  a groundwork 
for  community  spirit  and  commercial  co-operative  endeavor.  At 
Independence,  Louisiana,  for  example,  where  the  marketing  situa- 
tion demanded  a united  interest,  the  Sicilian  strawberry  growers 
came  together  with  commendable  facility  and  effectiveness  to  mar- 
ket their  berries  and  to  purchase  fertilizers  and  berry  boxes.  In 
several  of  the  more  northern  colonies  the  Italians  exhibit  aptness 
in  co-operating  and  unite  very  successfully  to  sell  produce,  to  pur- 
chase supplies  and  equipment  and  to  manufacture  their  surplus  raw 
materials  of  agriculture.  In  establishing  local  co-operative  business 
enterprises  the  immigrants  are  much  more  uniformly  successful 
than  their  native  white  neighbors. 

Americanization  and  Assimilation 

It  is  remarkable  that  comparatively  few  Polish  farmers  in 
New  England  are  recruited  from  the  industrial  centers.  The  Pole 
comes  to  the  land  directly  from  his  home  abroad.  If  he  has  not 
money  to  rent  or  purchase,  he  begins  as  a farm  hand  and  in  a very 
few  years  graduates  as  an  owner  of  the  farm.  Coming  from 
abroad  the  greater  number  have  little  or  no  knowledge  of  English 
and  none  of  American  civic  ideals  or  community  life.  For  this 


Immigrant  Rural  Communities 


79 


reason  some  thoughtful  people  have  greatly  regretted  the  inflow  of 
immigrants  to  rural  New  England. 

This  movement  is,  however,  economically  inevitable  under 
present  conditions,  and  while  Slavic  farmers  are  less  satisfactory 
than  New  Englanders,  they  are  better  than  no  farmers  at  all. 
Moreover,  the  prosperous  condition  of  their  agriculture  materially 
hastens  their  Americanization.  New  England  is  beginning  to  recog- 
nize and  make  provision  for  their  educational  needs,  and  night 
schools,  library  facilities  and  instruction  in  civics  and  morals  are 
being  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  rural  foreign-born  groups. 

In  general,  all  foreign  rural  communities  in  the  East,  particu- 
larly Hebrew  farm  colonies,  where  not  very  large  nor  closely 
segregated,  manifest  a lively  desire  to  speak  and  read  English,  to 
adopt  American  dress,  customs  and  methods  of  farm  practice,  and 
where  encouraged,  to  seek  naturalization  as  quickly  as  possible. 
There  is  no  question  that  assimilation  and  Americanization  take 
place  more  rapidly  among  the  less  segregated  rural  immigrants  than 
in  congested  industrial  groups  in  urban  localities.  Land  ownership 
confers  dignity,  imposes  financial  and  social  responsibility,  stimu- 
lates activity  in  civic  affairs  and  awakens  community  interest  and 
personal  pride.  In  short,  so  far  as  the  immigrant  is  concerned 
rural  life  in  most  instances  has  had  a most  salutary  effect.  It  has 
frequently  taken  an  ignorant,  abject,  unskilled,  dependent  foreign 
laborer  and  made  of  him  a shrewd,  self-respecting,  independent 
farmer  and  citizen.  His  returns  in  material  welfare  are  not  great, 
but  he  lives  happily,  comfortably  and  peaceably  and  in  time  accumu- 
lates a small  property.  The  second  generation  of  these  south 
European  immigrants  are  frequently  not  less  progressive  than  the 
Americans. 


Leadership 

One  influential  factor  in  the  social  and  civic  progress  of  the 
rural  group  is  the  quality  of  its  leadership.  In  the  southern  colo- 
nies, situated  in  states  with  inadequate  rural  schools  and  non- 
compulsory  attendance  laws;  where  there  is  little  incentive  to  local 
political  activity;  where  tenant  neighbors  take  little  interest  in  citi- 
zenship or  community  affairs,  the  lack  of  strong  leadership  is  very 
noticeable.  Few  have  qualified  as  voters,  and  the  percentage  of 
illiteracy  is  relatively  high.  Certain  southern  colonies,  however, 


80  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

have  been  fortunate  in  possessing  strong  and  wise  leaders,  American 
or  foreign,  who  have  insisted  on  educational  facilities  and  religious 
institutions;  have  urged  early  naturalization  and  encouraged  par- 
ticipation in  public  affairs;  and  have  made  plain  the  way  to  Ameri- 
canization and  higher  standards  of  living.  To  these  opportunities 
the  foreigners  respond  promptly  and  eagerly. 

Between  the  Italian  cotton  tenants  of  the  Mississippi  Delta 
region,  among  whom  are  few  citizens,  numerous  illiterates,  few 
children  in  school,  very  meagre  community  institutions  and  no 
political  interest  and  their  kinsmen  in  upland  Arkansas  with  a 
majority  of  naturalized  citizens,  a most  lively  participation  in  pub- 
lic matters,  exceptionally  fine  educational  and  religious  institutions, 
little  illiteracy  and  a rapidly  rising  standard  of  comfort,  the  contrast 
is  most  striking.  The  social  superiority  of  the  upland  Arkansas 
colony  is  due  largely  to  efficient  leadership  and  individual  owner- 
ship of  land.  Other  instances  might  be  cited  to  demonstrate  the 
very  significant  truth  that  progress  is  much  more  rapid  and  satis- 
factory where  there  is  some  one  to  lend  a friendly  hand  from  the 
beginning. 


SPECIAL  VOLUMES 


The  United  States  as  a World  Power 
The  United  States  and  Latm-America 
Political  and  Social  Progress  in  Latin- 
America 

The  Government  in  its  Relation  to  Industry 
American  Colonial  Policy  and  Administration 
Foreign  Policy  of  the  United  States — Political 
and  Commercial 

Federal  Regulation  of  Corporations 
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American  Waterways 
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Chinese  and  Japanese  in  America 
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The  New  South 
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THE  AMERICAN  ACADEMY  OF  POLITICAL 
AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE 


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